Friday, May 2, 2014

yehliu geopark

So far this past week I've been revisiting and showing my friends around Taipei but I finally got to explore somewhere new! After Jiufen, we went to Yehliu Geopark which has an amazing geological landscape located on a cape with beautiful ocean views. There are several stories about why this area is called Yehliu, yeh which means savage and liu, steal, in Taiwanese. The one I like best states that in the early days the locals relied on rice suppliers from further inland to provide them with rice. During transportation the locals would poke holes in the rice bags so that they could later pick the fallen grains up. As a result the rice traders would often say that "the rice was stolen by the savages," hence the name savage steal or Yehliu.

Despite the weather being so crappy, we had fun taking a bajillion selfies and frolicking amongst the rocks.

There are several types of rocks here but the mushroom rock especially one in particular is iconic of Yehliu. This rock is known as the Queen's Head and its image is often in tourist brochures and such for the area. There was line for people to take an image with the rock...

Queen's Head

We thought we would take the image from the opposite side instead of waiting in line but the other side doesn't resemble a queen's head at all. As we were leaving we walked pass the line and noticed that we could get a picture of the rock without waiting in line. Just gotta step off the path a bit... We might have given some tourists a bad idea since a lot of them climbed up to take pictures with the rock without waiting in line. Oopsies.

a bunch of gals that love jumping pics as much as I do!

I recommend this place if you like geology and scenic pictures of the ocean. If you have a limited amount of time in Taiwan I wouldn't bother coming here since there are a lot more interesting places to see. This is the second stop of the day click here to see the our first stop, Jiufen.The Details
Yehliu Geopark
Hours: 7:30am-5:00pm
Admission: 80 TWD
Access: There are several different buses departing every 10 or 30 minutes leaving from different locations around Taipei. The journey will take around 80 minutes each way. Check their website for more information.website

You can also catch the Crown North Coast Bus from Danshuei MRT Station in Taipei or Keelung Train Station. A bus comes every hour on the weekdays and every half hour on the weekend. 200 TWD for unlimited rides.website - find bus routes, schedule and access here